PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia staff who are found to have acted improperly in a scandal over the leaking of government tax plans would face “severe” consequences, PwC Australia acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins told a state parliament inquiry yesterday.
In her first public appearance since her predecessor resigned over his involvement in the scandal, Stubbins said an investigation by two law firms would conclude “shortly” and the firm would name any employees found to have “done anything wrong.”
“We have failed the standards we set for ourselves as an organization, and I apologize on behalf of our firm,” Stubbins said.
PwC Australia is under fire after a former partner who was advising the federal government on laws to prevent corporate tax avoidance shared confidential information with colleagues who then used it to pitch to multinational companies for work.
The firm has already placed nine partners on leave and named four former partners directly involved in the breach who have since left the firm. Two of those four have publicly denied any wrongdoing.
Stubbins faced a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry a day after the firm announced plans to sell its government consulting business for A$1 (US$0.67) and a further leadership shakeup as it responds to a scandal that has led government agencies and pension funds to freeze work with PwC.
PwC’s initial decision last month to ring fence its government consulting practice and set up a separate board “didn’t go far enough,” Stubbins said.
PwC Australia would receive no financial benefit from the A$1 sale, she added.
About 1,500 staff and more than 100 partners would go across to the new entity, which would be set up as a corporation with the help of private equity firm Allegro Funds and launched in about September.
The move would cut PwC Australia off from the “vast majority” of public-sector consulting work, although some external audit work for government clients might stay, Stubbins said.
Stubbins took over from former PwC Australia chief executive David Seymour last month after he admitted he was one of at least 67 staff who received e-mails containing confidential government plans to curb multinational tax avoidance leaked by a former partner at the firm between 2014 and 2017.
She is to remain in the role until Kevin Burrowes, currently global clients and industries lead based in Singapore, relocates to Australia for the job.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS